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Not All Federal Lands Are Closed to Hunting in the US

(posted October 14, 2013)

With hunting seasons upon us, many traveling hunters are wondering if and how
the ongoing Federal government shutdown is going to impact their upcoming hunts.
Sadly, the first casualty of the shutdown was the flow of accurate information.
It is difficult in some cases to know exactly where and how hunting will be
affected. Here's what we do know:

US National Forests are open, and
those who possess permits to hunt on these lands should be able to hunt.
Facilities at these sites are closed however, including recreation sites for
camping, as well as restrooms, visitor centers and ranger stations. Letters
circulated by the US Congress indicate that there may be some difficulty with
access due to road closures (Click Here). However, we have not been able to
find a verifiable instance where this has occurred.

In fact,
correspondent Michael Bodenchuk (himself a furloughed government employee) is
currently hunting National Forest lands in Arizona and reports that the forests
are open. He did, however, have to move his hunt-base from a Forest Service
campsite, which is closed, to a nearby town.

At the moment, however,
most National Wildlife Refuges are closed and public access to these lands has
been barred. Under pressure from state governments, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service has reopened some Waterfowl Production Areas (which are part of the
National Wildlife Refuge system) for hunting in North and South Dakota, Montana,
Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Idaho and Maine, according to
the Associated Press. All other National Refuge lands hunting is closed for the
time being, and any hunters who have drawn permits to hunt in these areas may be
out of luck.

Again, the most pressing problem seems to be the lack of
easily-accessed, accurate information. All websites hosted on the Department of
the Interior's site, including the BLM and US Fish and Wildlife websites, are
currently being redirected to a site with a notice of the shutdown and a few
announcements regarding the National Parks. (See www.doi.gov.) There has been some confusion in
media outlets regarding the differences between Wildlife Refuges and National
Forest and BLM lands, but again, the latter two appear to be open, though
specific road closures may make access more difficult in some areas. As a
general rule, hunting is still allowed where seasons are open.

If you
have a hunt planned on Federal lands, your best course of action is to contact
your outfitter. For do-it-yourselfers, the best source of information is likely
the state wildlife agency - though they are being swamped with requests for
information. Beware of alarmist reports which tell you all hunting is closed.
That simply isn't the case at this point.

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